


Heat

by ambiguously



Category: Star Wars Original Trilogy
Genre: Dead Tauntauns Aren't Much Fun, Extra Treat, Huddling For Warmth, M/M
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2016-11-19
Updated: 2016-11-19
Packaged: 2018-08-30 16:45:33
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 924
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/8540722
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/ambiguously/pseuds/ambiguously
Summary: Han has to get this shelter up right now.





	

**Author's Note:**

  * For [days4daisy](https://archiveofourown.org/users/days4daisy/gifts).



Heat was always in short supply on this ice cube of a planet. Even bunking in his own ship, draining the power cells for a little more warmth than he'd get hunkering down with the other pilots, Han was always too aware of the chill surrounding them. His fingers numbed holding a cup. His toes tingled inside his boots until he stamped life back into them. Every day. All day. And that was inside their base, with heaters and other bodies.

Out here in the dark blizzard, things were much worse.

He didn't know how long Luke had been trapped out here. His patrol had been scheduled for a few hours ago, though, and while the base was frosty, it had nothing on being out on a tauntaun looking to spot trouble. He'd have been cold long before whatever hit him did its damage. Hypothermia wasn't a danger. It had already set in.

The clock was ticking. Han's hands moved thickly inside their gloves, desperate to put up the shelter. He'd steal the dying heat from his mount to keep Luke from getting colder, would steal fire from the sun like in that legend he remembered from his childhood. Stories at the orphanage. His brain was freezing, too, and there wasn't a second tauntaun to shove his own head into. Han hurried with his work, breathing a sigh the moment the last side went up, protecting them from the wind.

"It's not much, kid, but it's home for tonight," he said, knowing Luke couldn't hear. Han clicked on the portable heater, spitting out so little warmth he might as well have brought a light bulb. Still better than nothing, and he had more than nothing. He had a dead tauntaun, and blankets.

He'd need three baths after this.

The ground was solid ice, but the lightsaber helped make the universe's worst fur rug to place between them and the shelter floor, and his efforts warmed the enclosed space. Luke's clothes stank from the beast's guts, and getting them off was an effort while he lay there like a doll. His own clothes were chilled but dry. Han stacked the thick coat and the rest around the two of them, covering the blankets with the extra layers.

Luke's skin wasn't as cold as Han had feared as he climbed under the covers, pressing their bodies together as close as he could.

"Everything is going to be fine," he said to Luke, not sure he believed it himself. Everything wasn't fine. They were out past the sensors, out past the commlinks. No one knew where they were. The temperature was still dropping outside.

Han admitted to himself there was a good chance the two of them were going to die out here. Well, living forever was never in his plans anyway.

He kissed Luke's hair.

"You know," he said, wrapping his arms around the still body beside him. "I always wondered what it would take to get you under the covers. I figured a few drinks would be involved somehow."

He hadn't wasted too much time thinking about it, except maybe at night when no one else was around. Luke had been obviously infatuated with the Princess since day one. Han understood what he saw in her, but he'd always kind of hoped that would fade off. It was pretty clear Leia's first love was the Rebellion, and her second was Freedom, and her third fling was with Democracy. Coming in fourth after all that competition was not going to appeal to any guy for long. Luke loved the sky, just like Han did. Time would show the kid that the best thing anyone could have was a fast ship and a good friend beside him, and Han could wait.

He hugged Luke closer.

He would have time to wait. They were going to hold each other here tonight, sharing what heat Han had and the little Luke could return, and get themselves home first thing tomorrow. Luke would recover from the nasty head wound he had that Han couldn't treat right now. He didn't even remember how to treat that sort of thing. Wake him up every few hours? Let him sleep it off? Han didn't know. He kissed his head again. That wasn't right, but it couldn't hurt.

"You know how I feel about you, right?"

Luke didn't say a word.

"I didn't think I would. Could. You're just too damn perky not to love. So you have to pull through. I'm not doing this without you. Have we got a deal?"

More silence. Han hugged him even tighter. He couldn't be closer without starting something Luke was in no condition to consent to or even stay conscious for. When it happened, if it happened, Han wanted him to be just as eager as he was to kiss and explore and feel. He'd hold him all night tonight, and he'd love him just the same tomorrow, and the day after, until Luke finally caught a clue, and turned back to Han, and gave him that smile.

He muttered endearments into Luke's hair, quick and cheap words that didn't express the depths he felt just now. Luke made a noise in his throat. Han took it as a good sign. If Luke was trying to speak, he was breathing and alive and fighting.

It wasn't much hope, not with the wind howling outside the shelter, not with the stink of the dead tauntaun here inside with them. But it was enough to keep Han warm.


End file.
